QUETTA, June 9: The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday demanding royalty for the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline.
Deputy Speaker Mir Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, who was presiding over the session, asked the provincial government to take up with the federal government the issues of illegal fishing and shifting of Balochistan assets to Karachi by the Gwadar seaport authority.
Opening the debate on an adjournment motion, Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Kachkol Ali said the IPI gas pipeline would pass through Jewani to Hub in Balochistan and according to Article 172 of the Constitution the land belonged to the provincial government.
He said that the Balochistan government was justified in demanding royalty for the gas pipeline and, according to internationally established principles, people living in areas adjacent to the pipeline land should get gas free of charge.
The opposition leader criticised the federal government for ignoring the provincial government on this vital project and referred to a Dawn editorial which emphasised that the government should safeguard the constitutional and legal rights of Balochistan.
He said that the people of Balochistan would not allow the federal government to deprive them of royalty or of the province’s coastal line to annex it with another province.
Opposition members Sardar Azam Musakhel and Jan Mohammad Buledi said that the pipeline project should benefit the people of the province.
Treasury members Syed Ehsan Shah, Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, Mir Asim Kurd, Mir Asghar Rind, Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and Shah Zaman Rind said that Balochistan should get the royalty and backed the opposition leader’s demand to turn the motion into a resolution.
During the question hour, Minister for Gwadar Development Authority Syed Sher Jan Baloch said that the federal government’s policy of issuing licences to domestic and international trawlers for fishing in Balochistan’s waters harmed the interests of local fishermen.
He said that the marine department of the federal government had issued dozens of fishing licences which would deprive local fishermen of their only means of livelihood.
Replying a supplementary question, Livestock Minister Quddus Bizenjo told the house that the government was considering a comprehensive programme for agricultural research through the Pakistan Agriculture Council to protect white camels in the province.
Fisheries Minister Mir Asghar Rind said on a point of explanation that the management of the Gwadar Seaport Authority had shifted the assets of the Gwadar port to Karachi, without informing the provincial government.
He said that while the management of the port claimed to have shifted its offices to Gwadar from Karachi tenders relating to the port were issued in Karachi.
He said the provincial government would not accept any policy of the federal government or the Gwadar Seaport Authority made without consulting it.
